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Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Sealing the fate of an almost two centuries-old Oxon Hill historic
site, Prince George’s County’s Historic Preservation Commission voted
unanimously Wednesday to support removing some of its environmental
protections, making way for a developer’s proposal to build an 80-store
outlet mall and hotel on the grounds.

The decision follows months
of objections by community groups who say the 2.7-acre Salubria
plantation should be preserved because of its importance to the county’s
black history.

The plantation sits in the middle of the proposed
44-acre planned Tanger Outlets being developed by National Harbor’s
developer, the Peterson Cos. based in Fairfax, Va

The county planning board will hold a public hearing Thursday for
Peterson Cos. to present a site plan on the proposed 460,000-square-foot
development of Tanger Outlets and a hotel on the Salubria site across
from National Harbor.

At Wednesday’s meeting, Peterson Cos. had to
agree that development of the site would not begin until existing
artifacts have been removed and preserved, and an agreement has been
reached with surrounding communities on a Salubria memorial.

The main house at Salubria where Dr. John H. Bayne and his family resided does not exist anymore.

Bayne,
a prominent white physician and horticulturist who also served as a
member of the county’s school board, worked to provide public education
to freed slaves even after a slave girl poisoned his children in 1834.

In
its findings, county Park and Planning staff concluded that protection
of the 2.7 acres should be removed because the site has few existing
physical structures that can be restored or preserved, and the best way
for the site to be preserved is through archaeological removal.

The
decision was a blow to Bonnie Bick, a resident of Oxon Hill Road and
co-founder of the civic group known as the Campaign to Reinvest in the
Heart of Oxon Hill, which has fought for a number of years to save
Salubria.

“It’s a mistake to take away the historic designation
because the message it is sending is there is nothing of historic value
to save.

“It’s just like cutting down the forest and naming the project after the forest,” she added.

Wednesday’s
meeting spanned six hours with presentations from Park and Planning
officials and representatives for Peterson Cos., as well as testimonies
from more than 15 county residents.

Joyce Thorpe of Fort
Washington said more historic sites in Prince George’s County should be
protected, and cited the impacts that the outlets would have on
residents’ quality of life.

“I do not want the site desecrated or
removed by anyone, especially [not by] a developer who has a shopping
center across the street in National Harbor,” she said.

Alfonso
Narvaez, a Fort Washington resident and chair of the county’s Historical
and Cultural Trust, said a Salubria memorial built at the outlet center
would be more impactful than an empty parcel of land with very few
remaining physical structures.

“We’re interpreting the history of Salubria in a way that it can’t be relegated to the background,” he said.

The
commission also voted to remove Salubria from the county’s Inventory of
Historic Sites and Districts, which it had been placed on 30 years ago.

In
late May, the county’s Historic Preservation Commission approved
archaeological studies to examine the historical value of the Salubria
property.

According to the report from Thunderbird Archaeology,
based in Gainesville, Va., whom Peterson hired to conduct the study,
several cultural features associated with the 19th century occupation of
the site were discovered, including a terra cotta water pipe and
associated trench that may have been used to transport water from the
well or pump house to the dairy.

The group also found other items
such as fragments of window glass and flower pots, the buttock of a doll
dating to the late 19th or early 20th century, and a clear bottle with a
prescription lip, said Jennifer Stabler, a staff archaeologist with the
Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission.

William
Shipp, a lawyer representing the Peterson Cos., said that had the
original structures on the property not been destroyed, the site
proposal would have been “a different design than what we have today.”

The
main house and surrounding buildings occupied about 22.5 acres, but an
environmental setting established in 1995 protected only 2.7 acres of
the site through the Historic Preservation Commission’s review of a
development proposal.

In 2003, a historic permit was approved that
allowed for the demolition of remaining structures on the property,
except an old milk house/dairy due to its advanced level of
deterioration.
Commissioner Robert H. Schnabel said it was “unfortunate” that the milk house/dairy had not been maintained properly.

“What was done was inadequate, and it’s completely gone now,” he said.

June
White-Dillard, president of the African American Heritage Preservation
Group, who is heading the Salubria memorialization group, said proposals
for a memorial at the outlets include statues of select individuals in
narrative poses reflecting the story of Salubria, an interactive video,
commemorative plaques and floral or plant arrangements representing
Bayne’s horticulture work.

Dillard said the estimated cost for
such a memorial to be constructed would be $450,000 to $500,000. She
said the group is still ironing out details on how much Peterson Cos.
would contribute.

Representatives for Peterson Cos. did not address how much they would contribute to the memorial at Thursday’s meeting.

David
A. Turner, the commission’s chairman, said as part of the next
archaeology survey, artifacts will be removed from the site and
preserved at the Maryland Archaeological Lab at the Jefferson

Patterson
Park in Calvert County or could be incorporated into the future Salubria
memorial.
Margaret White of Capitol Heights said more effort
needs to be made countywide to educate people on the history of Salubria
and the Bayne family.

“There is an elementary school in my community named after John Bayne,” she said. “No one knows who he was or what he did.”

If you go
The
Prince George’s County Planning Board will hold a public hearing at 10
a.m. Thursday on the first floor of the County Administration Building
in Upper Marlboro.

Representatives for Peterson Cos. will present a
conceptual site plan for the proposed 460,000-square-foot development
of Tanger Outlets and a hotel on the Salubria site across from National
Harbor.

The address is 14741 Governor Oden Bowie Drive.

For
information, call the Development Review Division at 301-952-3530.
Individuals who need special assistance should call 301-952-3560 (TTY
301-952-3796) for accommodations.

In case of inclement weather, call 301-952-5330 to verify the status of the Planning Board meeting.